Titans pride found in pain of Super Bowl XXXIV defeat

Sep. 21, 2013

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The Tennessean

Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson stretches but comes up short of a touchdown in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta against the Rams. / Eric Parsons / The Tennessean

SUPER BOWL XXXIV

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Kevin Dyson still has his recording of Super Bowl XXXIV, commercials and all.

But he hasn’t watched it, and doesn’t know if he ever will.

The most exciting 15 minutes in the history of the Tennessee Titans didn’t have a happy ending, but they left a lasting impression. After falling behind 16-0 against the St. Louis Rams, the Titans staged a furious rally, only to come up short in a heartbreaking 23-16 loss.

To those involved, including Dyson, the wide receiver who had the ball in his hands at the 1-yard line as time expired, the years have flown by since that evening in the Georgia Dome on Jan. 30, 2000. It remains etched in the minds of Titans fans.

For much of the game, the Titans did not look like they were going to really challenge the Rams. Then came Eddie George’s one-yard touchdown run, which made it 16-6 with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.

The score gave the Titans a spark, and it set the stage for one of the most unforgettable endings in Super Bowl history.

“After being so out of sync early, our confidence kept building as the game went on,” tight end Frank Wycheck said. “In the huddle, guys were talking, ‘We’re kicking their (butts). We’re driving their (butts) into the ground.’ We were finally playing our brand of football. And we all thought it was going to produce a win.”

The final 15 minutes were frantic.

After a quick possession by the Rams, the Titans put together a seven-minute, 15-second drive that began with 14:36 remaining and ended with George in the end zone again, this time from 2 yards out. It was 16-13 with 7:21 to play.

Titans fans were loud. Titans players were pumped.

The Rams went three-and-out again. The Titans had the ball back at their own 47 with 6:17 left. They stalled at the St. Louis 25, but Al Del Greco’s 43-yard field goal made it 16-16 with 2:12 left.

At that point, the mind-set was simple: stop the Rams and get the ball back for a chance to win it with a field goal.

“It was our game then,” tackle Brad Hopkins said. “All the momentum had shifted, and the Rams knew it.”

Disaster then struck the Titans in the form of Kurt Warner.

With Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse zeroing in, the Rams quarterback continued his storybook season by connecting with Isaac Bruce for a 73-yard touchdown pass. Bruce beat two defenders, including late-adjusting cornerback Denard Walker and safety Anthony Dorsett, to give St. Louis a 23-16 lead with 1:54 on the clock.

“It was deflating,’’ Hopkins recalled.

The Titans had no time to mope, however. They knew that with Steve McNair in the huddle, and time on the clock, anything was possible.

“To me, it was ‘OK, they gave us too much time,’ ” Wycheck said. “We had No. 9 in a two-minute, and we were confident. We weren’t hanging our heads. We knew Steve was going to win it for us.”

After a holding penalty on the kickoff, the final drive started at the Tennessee 12 with 1:48 remaining. The Titans needed a touchdown.

“Nothing changed in our huddle,” Dyson said. “The (88) yards didn’t seem like (88), it seemed like (48). We felt like we would go down and score and tie that thing up. We had the swagger we had all year long.”

A 9-yard pass to wide receiver Derrick Mason got it started. Then came a 7-yard completion to Wycheck. McNair ran for 12 yards, but it turned into 27 thanks to a facemask penalty against the Rams.

The Titans were at the St. Louis 45 with 1:05 left.

“We were in dictate mode then, and they were tired,” Dyson recalled. “Their defensive linemen had their tongues out, and they were tired of chasing Steve and Eddie around.”

A 5-yard penalty on the Rams moved the ball to the 40. McNair ran for 2 yards. He zipped a 7-yard completion to Dyson.

Another St. Louis penalty put the Titans at the 26 with 28 seconds remaining, setting the stage for perhaps the signature moment of McNair’s career. He somehow broke free from two defensive linemen and connected with Dyson for a 16-yard gain that put the Titans at the St. Louis 10 with six seconds left.

The Titans called a timeout.

When they broke the huddle, Wycheck was supposed to be the No. 1 target, having scored on the exact same play in the regular-season finale at Pittsburgh.

The reliable tight end appeared to break open for a moment, but the Rams contend they had him accounted for in the secondary. So McNair threw to Dyson, who made his way toward the end zone as Rams linebacker Mike Jones barged into his path.

“I thought for a second Dyse might spin out and get in,” Wycheck said.

Dyson couldn’t escape Jones’ grasp, however. He desperately tried to reach the football across the goal line as he fell, but he was one-yard short, even after a second lunge.

“Once you feel your feet stop moving, you try to extend and get all you can,” Dyson said. “That yellow paint was so close, I thought I could reach out and get it across. It felt so close, but I couldn’t quite get there.”

Dyson cemented his place as a Titans legend a few weeks earlier thanks to his starring role in the “Music City Miracle” victory over the Buffalo Bills in a wildcard game. He has no plans to watch the full replay of the Super Bowl.

He knows how it ends. He remembers confetti falling from the rafters. It’s still painful for him to think about. Over the years, he’s seen a replay of that final play countless times.

“The world didn’t know who the Tennessee Titans were or what we were all about at that time,” Hopkins said. “It was bittersweet in that we didn’t win the ball game and we weren’t Lombardi recipients that year, but the respect we gained by the way we played, that made a difference.

“It was finally our time to shine, and we did, even if we did come up short.”